Saturday, October 17, 2015

Over the years, Disaster Amnesiac has interacted with more than a few musicians, and perhaps one of the most humble of them is Ricardo D'Orlando. I met him at the Luggage Store in San Francisco, where he was doing a performance after driving all the way to California from his home base in New York City. Mind you, there were no other stops on this tour, save for a brief one in Los Angeles, where Ricardo stopped to check out some gear. Many musicians would likely be pretty perturbed by having to have traveled so far, especially in light of the somewhat small turnout for the show. Ricardo showed no negativity or frustration at all. He simply set up his synths and guitar amp, turned his rig on, and played a wonderful and spaced out set for his allotted forty five minutes, after which he packed his gear up, grabbed his car, and proceed to start the long trek back east. Pretty awesome, all of it.
Since that time, Disaster Amnesiac and Mr. D'Orlando have struck up a friendship on Facebook. A few weeks back, Ricardo let me know that a I should be expecting a package containing some of his music; the package has arrived, and I have been digging his solo disc, Extensions Through Dimensions, to start.
The disc features twenty three tracks of Cosmic Music, produced with the pretty much the same gear that I saw him use at the Luggage Store, and they all flow nicely together. There is a vaguely ritualistic feel to the overall sound, which pairs nicely with the ancient carvings featured on the disc's cover. D'Orlando sculpts as well, building up big clouds of sound that drift through the listener's perceptions as their action unfolds. There are linked sequences, such at the four part Antagonization, with its short statements; classically 20th Century Electronic Music moves on Robot Speaks; a canny remixing of Wagner's Tristan Und Isolde; harrowing heaviness on La Terra Trema; New Age feels on The Sacred Craft, and even emotional tenderness on Shala 1 and Shala 2. As any effective ritual should, Extensions Through Dimensions has varying and diverse movements.
It's these types of variation that Disaster Amnesiac finds really compelling about Extensions. When listening to this disc, I have found my mind going to all sorts of fascinating imaginary places; it's clear that Ricardo has put a lot of thought and care into his creative efforts.
I beseech you, the reader, to send some care his way, and listen to some of his music. He's surely put in the miles to warrant your attention.